By Bryse Thornwell ’16

It’s the year 2016, which officially ends the “S” year for Apple’s iPhone and paves the way for the iPhone 7 tentatively set to be released this fall. While Apple has not yet stated which changes are absolutely definite, USA Today has released some of the modifications that reportedly will be incorporated into the new design. Some of the biggest changes include removing the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, making the phone compatible with gloves, and protecting the phone by adding more water-resistant materials.

USA Today speculates on these changes based on Apple’s recently received patents for “Glove Touch Detection,” “Electronic devices with housing port shutters,” and an informant from the Japanese blog Macotakara.

The most controversial change would most likely be the removal of the headphone jack. Removing the headphone jack would allow Apple to make the iPhone even thinner, and the standard 3.5mm plug would be modified to fit the charger port. While at first this change seems similar to when Apple changed the charger ports from the old (30-pin) charger to the new, thinner lightning cable, headphones include a market that expands further and would lead everyone to modify their headphone products, not just Apple.